Notts County 4 Accrington Stanley 1

MELEE: The Stanley players appeal before Andy Procter’s red card – which has since been overturned

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Stanley boss John Coleman came out playing ‘Embarrassment’ by Madness and admitted that summed up his feelings.

He could have perhaps used ‘Grey Day’ as well as Saturday marked a day to forget for the Reds.

Stanley desperately needed the £18,000 prize money from the FA Cup and needed a run to boost morale which has been up and down this season.

But instead they succumbed easily to the League One pacesetters with the stats saying it all – favourites County had 25 shots on goal; Stanley just three.

The Reds’ cause wasn’t helped by the controversial sending off of skipper Andy Procter on 65 minutes – which has since been overturned.

He was shown red for what the referee David Ward and his assistant saw as pulling back County’s nippy striker and last man Karl Hawley although the man in the middle seemed to show the card to Sean Hessey and Kevin McIntyre before Procter said it was him and left the pitch.

While Stanley could complain about that they could have few complaints that Martin Allen’s side were in the hat for the second round on Sunday – and that left Coleman fuming.

"We’ve gone out with a whimper and that’s the disappointing thing. We haven’t threatened their goal other than for the one we scored but we didn’t push them back and put them under pressure.

"We gave them carte blanche to do what they wanted. They weren’t really hurting us in the first half until we gifted them a goal.

"After that they had a couple of chances but then we gifted them a second goal and it’s game over.

"We’ve gone out without really trying. I’m not questioning the commitment of the players. They made the effort but just weren’t good enough.

"We didn’t ask questions, we didn’t press them and stop them playing."

167 Accy fans made the relatively short trip and were noisy throughout – even singing ‘we are going to win 4-3’ when Luke Joyce got a late goal back to make it 3-1. But it was no consolation and Coleman sympathised with them.

"I feel sorry for the fans who have travelled. They’ve travelled to see a team come out all guns blazing.

"There will be teams in the competition who have shown heroics and we didn’t show any. I have to take some criticism and bear the brunt because I pick the players and I brought them in.

"But at this moment in time we’re not performing anything near to where we can.

"We’re not showing the Accrington Stanley spirit that I know and we certainly let the fans down massively on Saturday.

"We were so lacklustre it’s embarrassing. You’d swear Alan Judge had been reincarnated as (Lionel) Messi on the amount of space he was given in the game."

County did find space as Coleman rejigged his side with loan defender Kevin¿Long not allowed to play by his parent club Burnley and verstatile Procter moving into the centre half role.

Jayden Stockley was given his first start up front since his loan move from Bournemouth but he was well-shacked by the strong League One defence.

And Stanley couldn’t seriously trouble keeper Stuart Nelson as, after some neat build-up play, they lacked the final ball, something which has plagued the Reds all season.

This was unlike County who had two lively wide men with winger Jeff Hughes bossing the early show and former Blackburn front man Ben Burgess having a couple of early headers that weren’t far off.

The home side made the breakthrough on 35 minutes when Reds’ keeper Sean Murdoch got a touch on Hawley’s shot but it continued goalwards. Sean Hessey appeared to hook the ball off the line but the assistant judged it had gone over.

That was a touch of luck for County but then it was the Reds who benefited from a decision. Krystian Pearce’s header was one-handedly tipped away by Murdoch into path of Hawley who tucked it away just before the break– but it was ruled out seemingly for a push in the build up.

However, while Murdoch was influential in keeping County out at times, he held his hands up for the killer second goal.

Two minutes after the interval, Judge was allowed to run with the ball into the area and squeezed it home at the near post as it squirmed past the Reds keeper’s arms.

Coleman made a double substitution putting on Padraig Amond and Tom Bender – back for the first time in a Reds shirt since his serious head injury.

But not long after Procter saw red and that was that.

With ten minutes left, an Alan Sheehan free kick outwitted the Reds defence, left Murdoch static and squeezed into the bottom corner as County threatened to run riot.

But there was some relief when, with five minutes to go, Joyce took his goal well, getting ahead of his marker for his first goal of the campaign.

But it only lasted three minutes as Hawley ran onto a loose ball and chipped it over the outrushing Murdoch to end a day of disaster for the Reds.

"The first chance I can’t tell if it’s over." said Coleman. "But the second goal was a joke. Sean Murdoch has held his hands up and he didn’t mean to let it in but he has.

"The goal we scored is no consolation to me. I don’t know why people use the term consolation goals. I take no solace in them.

"We might find it difficult to get paid this month because the people coming through the gates aren’t enough. This is one area that we had to try to cash in on and we haven't done that."

But, in the words of another Madness song, ‘Tomorrow’s just another day’ and Coleman will hope that tomorrow is a better day for his side.